


Fusion Chemistry

by Agent66



Series: War of the Worlds [5]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, F/F, F/M, Gen, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-20 08:58:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11917524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agent66/pseuds/Agent66
Summary: Garnet takes Steven and Connie on a mission.Hilarity ensues.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello AO3 friends! Finally, I can present you with the next in my [War of the Worlds serial](http://archiveofourown.org/series/724287), Fusion Chemistry! This story follows the previous one of Final Exam and will contain some spoilers to the previous works in the series. Big news with this - this is the last of my 'slice of life' stories, before the actual serial starts, however stuff will happen here that will play in later.
> 
> Also, this is the last story that will be mostly canon compliant, so make sure you're up to date by at least I Am My Mom.
> 
> I would like to thank all of you who have been reading, subscribing, commenting, bookmarking, etc. Thank you all very much! I'm glad you're enjoying this series and hope you continue to stick with me.
> 
> Without further ado, here we go!

The sun was high in the sky over Beach City that Thursday morning and it was a perfect day for being outside.

For Pearl, it was also a perfect day for training.

Standing in the middle of the Sky Arena, the lithe gem gave a final look and nod to the setup she had created for the day, nothing too strenuous, but enough to keep her students on their toes. It had only been a week since Connie had taken her final exam and official entrance test into the Crystal Gems and her teacher couldn’t have been prouder.

There had been many humans who had fought with the Gems during their war to protect Earth and the rights of everyone – human, plant, animal, and even gem – but they had never been _official_ Crystal Gems; each group had their reasons for fighting and while aligned, it didn’t mean she or the others considered them members in their own group.

Connie Maheswaran, however, had not just exceeded, but had broken _every_ possible rule there could have been when it came to a human joining them. Connie had shown an incredible amount of enthusiasm, drive, and determination to ensure she was able to protect Steven and the others against Homeworld’s forces. It was Pearl’s hope that they would _never_ need to put these skills into practice outside capturing corrupted gems, but it was still too early to tell.

After coming back from the human zoo, it was clear the Diamonds still had no idea about the cluster being bubbled and from Steven, Greg, and Garnet’s statements, they were still hoping to continue the process of taking humans and placing them in that zoo.

It meant the Earth was still a target for Homeworld and the Crystal Gems would be no match for them.

Shaking the gloomy thoughts from her mind, Pearl instead turned on her heel and made her ways towards the steps, eagerly awaiting her students for the day. She only had to wait a few moments before she heard mumbled voices and laughter coming towards her, revealing Steven, Connie, Amethyst, and Garnet at the top of the arena stairs. The two teens quickly rushed down, while the two gems that followed took their time to reach the bottom.

“Good morning, Pearl!” Connie exclaimed, her feet reaching the ground floor and stopping before her teacher with a slight bow.

“Connie,” the gem replied, sending her a nod in return. “Good morning.”

“Pearl!”

“And good morning to you, Steven.” Pearl nodded to their audience members, as they took their seats.

“Alright!” the purple gem cried. “Let the battle begin!”

“Amethyst, really,” the gem chastised, giving said gem a look before turning back to the two children before her.

As always, Connie was dressed in her training gear, Rose’s sword slung casually across her back, while Steven was dressed in his normal attire, including his ever-present sandals. “I know I’ve given the two of you some time off,” she began. “What with Connie finishing out her schooling requirements and of course, completing her recent trials…”

Connie stood up straighter at the praise, a slight smile on her face. Steven didn’t bother to hide his pride at his best friend’s accomplishment – he openly smiled at her, which caused a small blush to appear on her cheeks.

“However,” the lithe gem continued. “The vacation is over, as the saying goes. I think the two of you are more than ready to advance to the next level. I also believe that we can start upping your fusion training, if you’d like.”

“Could we start today?” Connie asked.

“Of course,” Pearl replied, sending a smile to the two. “In fact, that was precisely the plan.”

The two teens looked at each other in excitement. Their fusion of Stevonnie was such a joy to both, even if they weren’t constantly joined the way Garnet was – their last training session as the fusion had been a disaster, exposing both of their insecurities and fears, but it had opened their eyes to a deeper level of being a part of a fusion.

Imbalance of thoughts and feelings could easily defuse a fusion, which often meant experiencing hallucinations with frightening reality. Their vision during Sour Cream’s rave and in the race against Kevin had suddenly made sense once Garnet described the underlying cause.

Though they hadn’t informed anyone else, one of the reasons they hadn’t formed Stevonnie was because they didn’t _want_ to be a liability during a fight and the best way to avoid that was in helping each other conqueror their fears. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t difficult – both Steven and Connie were people pleasers, wanting people to think the best of them and trying to handle things on their own.

While they usually shared most of their secrets with each other, there were things they often kept to themselves, which only led to more issues. The two teens had promised to be more open with each other, to rely and lean on each other when they thought the world and their problems were too much.

“But first,” Pearl continued. “Let’s start with some warmups.”

“Aw,” Amethyst whined. “C’mon Pierogi, let’s get this party started! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“Patience, Amethyst,” Garnet said. “Good things come to those who wait.”

The purple gem sighed, knowing that patience was not her forte, but none the less she just crossed her arms and was quiet.

Pearl then led the two teens into a few drills as warm-ups, nothing unfamiliar to them, however their teacher was noticing a new type of dynamic between the two. In fact, it took Pearl nearly fifteen minutes within their starting drills to realize what was happening and what she was seeing.

The two teens always had a friendly banter between them, joking with each other, sometimes in a rather exaggerated fashion, but it was something that wasn’t new. What they were doing today _was_.

She had created five Holo-Pearls, knowing they were fairly easy for the two to defeat. This was just a warm-up, after all, and while Pearl wanted the two to be able to face obstacles by themselves, she also knew they worked extremely well as a team.

Even now, their team dynamics were in full swing – Connie started out on the offense, something she usually didn’t do, slashing at the first Holo-Pearl and dissipating it. Pearl made a comment in her mind, a quick note that Connie had left herself open to the two Holo-Pearls on both her right and left sides.

The gem needn’t worry, however, because Steven’s shield flew through the air, slicing across a second hologram; instead of the shield continuing on, it came back through a third, thanks to Connie’s position from behind. Three down, two to go. The fourth hologram that had stood on the outside right, leaped into the air in order to bring its sword down on Steven.

Instead of meeting the young boy’s head, the sword hit the pink barrier of his bubble before being pushed back, both from the impacting and Steven enlarging it. The act threw the Holo-Pearl back through the air before it hit the ground and shattered out of existence. With one hologram left, the Indian girl made quick work of it, cutting across its midsection before it was even able to turn around.

Connie smirked as the hologram disappeared, before bowing slightly towards Steven. “My liege.”

“Miss Knight,” the teen replied, sending her a smile that caused her to giggle.

It was right in front of the gem’s face and when Pearl finally realized what she was seeing between the two teens, she literally blinked in surprise.

They were flirting with each other.

She managed to barely stop her jaw from dropping and closed it with a snap when the two all but confirmed what she was thinking. Certainly, she and the others had seen from the start that the two clearly liked each other and held feelings that would, one day if not already, move past their tight bound of friendship.

However, Pearl had never seen them display it so _blatantly_ before.

While this was…fascinating – and would totally, absolutely have to be looked in to and discussed because this would open up a whole new world that Pearl wasn’t sure she was ready for just yet – it was only going to distract them from the reason they were there.

“Was that it?”

Throwing a look to Amethyst, Pearl let out an annoyed sigh. “No Amethyst,” she said. “As I mentioned earlier, that was just a warm-up.” Turning to her students, she said, “Nothing they couldn’t handle, of course. Today, we’ll be doing things a bit differently. With Connie now an _official_ Crystal Gem, I think it’s high time we upped both of your training regiments, starting with your fusion of Stevonnie.”

The two nodded before looking at each other. In times past, they had been driven to form Stevonnie in two ways – by dancing or by pure instinct and both were usually done by accident. After their fall from this very arena, the two had tried to figure out how they could become Stevonnie without the threat of death or the accident side product of enjoying each other’s company.

Steven held out his hand for his knight, feeling the warmth of her own hand in his as he pulled her towards him, spinning her as he did. Just as it looked like the younger girl would collide with the hybrid, there was a bright flash of light, and where Steven and Connie had been only moments before was now a young teenager, maybe a few years older than their two components.

They laughed happily, doing a quick arm pump at their success. “Alright!” they exclaimed. “That actually worked!”

Pearl gave a sidelong glance to the audience sitting in the arena stand, noting the smug little smile on Garnet’s face and the impressed look on Amethyst’s. Fusion was hard for even the best of them – back on Homeworld, same gem fusions always came together without issue, being as most gems felt the same way about a situation.

Cross-gem fusions, on the other hand, were completely new territory.

As Pearl and Amethyst had demonstrated, conflicting personalities or ideals would easily pull them apart – it was one of the reasons Alexandrite was so hard to maintain at times - and while the three gems were now able to form their respective fusions in similar quick fashion, it took time to get to the point they were. Pearl and Amethyst no longer held an antagonistic approach to forming Opal and the lithe gem was fairly sure she and Garnet could form Sardonyx in their sleep, it had taken several trials to get to that point.

And no matter how well Garnet and Amethyst got along, there was a 100.2% chance that Sugilite would stay benched until further notice.

But up until a few months ago, the Gems didn’t think Steven and Connie had issues fusing or staying fused and to their knowledge, that was the only time they disagreed as Stevonnie. Speaking of the fusion, they were smiling widely before Pearl, excitement written all over their face. “I’m ready, Pearl,” they replied. “Whatever you throw at me, I can handle it.”

“I’m sure you can,” their teacher remarked, a smirk on her lips.

“So what’s it today?” Stevonnie asked. “Another Holo-Pearl fusion?”

“I think you’ve gone past that, don’t you think?” Pearl asked, the smirk still on her face. “No, I think after your victory against Jasper, holographic simulations might be a bit…elementary for you. I’m thinking something a bit more…practical, so we’ll actually have you fight a live opponent today.”

“You?” The fusion asked, excitedly. Connie had recently held her own, even defeating Pearl during her final exam, and while Stevonnie hadn’t been there in the physical sense, she could remember the feelings of excitement, determination, and pride that stemmed not only from Connie, but Steven too.

Pearl chuckled slightly. “Not this time,” she said. She almost went on to state that she would be at a disadvantage, knowing the way both Steven and Connie fought, but having no idea how _Stevonnie_ would be in battle and that, thanks to having Connie’s own training background, the young fusion would have the advantage against the gem.

Throwing a thumb behind them, Stevonnie asked, “Amethyst?”

“Oh ho!” the purple gem replied. “Put me in coach, put me in!”

“No,” Pearl said, sending a look towards Amethyst. “Though, we’ll put a pin in that.”

There was only one other person in attendance, so Stevonnie wasn’t _too_ surprised when Garnet appeared on the ground floor next to her. “It’ll be me,” replied the taller fusion, the sun catching the edge of her visor as she spoke. Stevonnie was torn on how to feel – on one hand, Garnet was the coolest! She had been helping Steven since he was a kid (or at least, a younger kid) and she had been giving Connie really good advice lately.

On the other hand, they were aware of how strong and tough Garnet was. Stevonnie had never personally seen her in action, but Steven and Connie _had_ ; not only was she strong, but she was fast too, something both had attributed to her components.

“Alright!” Amethyst crowed, throwing both of her arms in the air. “Jam Buds versus the Power Couple!”

The two fusions looked at each other, both of them smirking at the nicknames, an incredible power that the purple gem excelled at. Despite their apprehension, Stevonnie none the less nodded her agreement to a match, watching as Garnet took a few steps ahead of her.

“Try not to beat me up too bad,” she joked.

Stevonnie matched the smile that came her way, retorting back, “No promises.”

The two fusions stood facing each other on the arena floor, neither of them making any immediate moves towards the other. Connie had been trained to look for the weakness in an opponent, to analyze their stance and manner, but to also be on alert; fighting Jasper had certainly taught her to not just rely on her thoughts, but her gut feelings.

Those same instincts were a part of Stevonnie now, but so were the thoughts and knowledge from Steven. After all, Steven had been on more missions with the Gems and with Garnet in particular, so he was better equipped at knowing her fighting style than Connie.

On that same token, Garnet knew a lot about Steven, a bit about Connie, and only a small token on Stevonnie. Where the younger fusion lacked experience, Garnet had been in plenty of sparring matches and battles and knew that sometimes making the first move wasn’t always ideal. As expected, Steven’s impatient side spurred Stevonnie into action, causing the younger fusion to rush towards Garnet.

The permafusion was ready, putting up a gauntlet to counter the sword strike that was coming down towards her, pivoting around the teenager and giving them a friendly push away from her. Seizing on the opportunity, Stevonnie turned quickly, their shield flying outwards through the air; Garnet blocked it by crossing her gauntlets and sending the disk back to Stevonnie.

Gripping their sword with both hands, the fusion blocked the attack, letting the shield rebound off her sword and sending it right back to the older gem. Again, Garnet blocked the return using only one gauntlet and sending it back to Stevonnie, who used a backhand form to send back once again.

Garnet countered swinging her own backhand, sending the shield back with such force, the younger fusion had to duck if they wanted to keep their head. The shield flew overhead, smashing into the column behind them and making a sizable dent before disappearing.

“Let’s try to keep the ruins in one piece, please,” Pearl admonished from the stands.

Looking behind them, Stevonnie turned to gaze at the permafusion before her. “Huh,” they replied. “You really do play tennis with Dad Universe on the weekends.”

“Picks up a slow day,” shrugged Garnet. Within a split second, Garnet was rushing towards Stevonnie, taking the younger fusion off guard. Stevonnie stumbled backwards, but was able to bring up their shield against the fist that had previous been aimed at their face. They had the good sense to bring up their sword in order to deflect another blow before swinging it back towards the gem.

The two continued their battle and while Stevonnie was able to hold their own, Garnet’s vast experience managed to knock them to the ground in defeat. It was technically their first loss and at least Garnet wasn’t actively trying to kill them.

Speaking of the permafusion, she was holding her hand out for Stevonnie to take, helping the young hybrid from the ground and back on their feet.

“Good fight,” she said, clapping them on the shoulder.

“Would’ve been better if I had actually beaten you,” the fusion grumbled.

“Don’t let it get you down, Stevonnie,” Pearl piped up. “You handled yourself very well, especially against Garnet. I can tell you from experience she is not one to easily go down in a fight.”

Said fusion smirked in acknowledgement, sharing amused looks with Pearl. The two warriors had not only known each other for several millennia, but had fought side by side with each other and in present day, were even helping to raise their leader’s child.

Pearl and Rose had been the very first people to accept Garnet as she was – a fusion of two different gems; they had been among the very first to see the budding romance between Ruby and Sapphire and Pearl herself had been the gem that trained all three of them.

The rest of the time was spent explaining Stevonnie’s defeat and working on fighting techniques. While losing had stung, Stevonnie did feel better about having some _actual_ training; it wasn’t that they didn’t trust in the training Steven or Connie had, but it was different than if _they_ were being trained.

After all, they only learned they had Steven’s floaty powers a few months ago.

Training sessions usually only lasted about an hour, but with Connie off for the summer, her schedule would most likely change, if Pearl’s suggestion of splitting the time between Connie, Steven, _and_ Stevonnie was any indication. There was also Garnet’s sly comment about seeing just how long the two could stay fused.

That wasn’t exactly surprising – being able to stay fused was important in a wider scheme of things, but the two teens couldn’t help but think this was part of their advancing level of training. In many cases, Stevonnie would show up and then the two would unfuse; at most, they’d be able to hold together for a few hours at max and that included having a panic attack that had induced their first hallucination.

There was excitement there, but also apprehension – Connie was already feeling the pressure from her parents to introduce them to Stevonnie and their previous conversation about fusion made the idea of staying Stevonnie for any longer than a few hours daunting. It was within her grasp to keep those feelings to herself before shaking that idea out of her head.

She and Steven had promised to be more open with each other and to stay within their fusion and avoid their previous inclinations for hallucinations, they would need to discuss this.

It was certainly turning out to an interesting start to her summer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet, Connie, and Steven get ready to head out, while Pearl decides to hang out with a mystery girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently the use of emojis make Ao3 angry, so instead of having a long first chapter (not that it's not long already), I had to split it into two. But now you know - emojis are a nooooo.

Friday morning saw Connie walk through the beach house a little after 9am.

After training the day before, the young teen had stayed for lunch with Steven and the Gems, before heading off with Steven to see his father at the car wash. Before she left, Garnet had pulled her aside to request her help on a mission for tomorrow morning. Connie was of course intrigued and immediately stated she would be more than happy to go, providing her parents said okay.

That had been the bigger hurdle.

Only a week removed from the fantastical things they had seen and learned, Doug and Priyanka Maheswaran were still apprehensive on letting their daughter even go over to Steven’s just to hang out. They had, in equal parts, learned much about Connie’s days at the Temple with the Gems, yet they also seemed to still be in the dark about many things regarding the extraterrestrial beings and their young charge.

There was still a lot of things they didn’t know or understand – Priyanka still didn’t understand how fusion worked, especially in relation to Connie and Steven; Doug still didn’t understand how Garnet – or rather the smaller blue gem Sapphire that was a part of her – was able to know things before they were done or said; and neither of them truly understood what happened between Earth and the Gems’ ‘home world’.

Connie had promised, again, that she would continue to be truthful about her life as a Crystal Gem – something that her parents weren’t sure if they should be proud or hesitant about – but there was only so much she knew or could report. Most of the Gems history was told second hand by Steven and depending on his emotions while telling it, the story as a whole could be either happy or sad and usually missed (or added) an important detail that may or may not have actually happened.

But even with their worry and uneasiness, both parents couldn’t deny that this…life…was what made their daughter happy and considering some of the things she _could_ be involved in, this was both the safest and most dangerous thing she could’ve chosen.

That’s how Connie found herself back at the home of Steven Universe only a few hours after leaving. Garnet hadn’t gone into any details about the mission, just that she would like to have the extra backup with Connie and Steven there. The pre-teen couldn’t help but wonder if this was possibly another test, something that went along with this new ‘advanced level’ of training.

 “Connie!”

Steven was sitting at the kitchen island, eating breakfast when Connie walked through the door and it was only a look from Pearl kept the teen from immediately jumping off his stool to greet her.

“Good morning, Connie,” the lithe gem greeted, before gesturing to a plate on the counter. “Have you eaten this morning?”

“Pearl made pancakes!” Steven exclaimed, putting a forkful of food in his mouth.

The young girl smiled, dropping her duffel bag on the coffee table, and giving her head a quick shake. “I’m good,” she replied. “Dad made breakfast, which is the ‘most important meal of the day for adventuring swordswomen’.” Rooting around in her duffel bag, she again looked up to Steven and asked, “Has Garnet mentioned anything about where we’re going?”

Steven just shrugged. “I usually never know until we actually get there.”

Connie frowned in confusion. In hindsight, she probably should have asked what attire she would need for today, but she was so excited to be going on another gem mission that the thought didn’t even occur to her until she was packing her bag. It was actually a bit heavier than normal, as the teen tried to prepare for anything.

She had packed her training gi and thought it might be useful to wear, but what if they went somewhere like the Great North? She’d freeze to death. She packed a sweater and some jeans, but looking at them now, she knew trying to fight in jeans was stupid – she was surprised Steven could do it so well.

“Wow, you have a lot of stuff in there.”

Connie sighed, nudging Steven as he suddenly appeared next to her. “I should’ve asked Garnet where we were headed,” she said, turning to look at him. “Could I borrow your cheeseburger backpack? Not sure if it’s a good idea to take this with us.”

“Of course,” he replied, turning away and running up to the loft. He made a few swipes under his bed before he managed to pull out his backpack and stood to walk over to the edge of the loft, dropping the bag down to the couch below. A look from Pearl stopped him from jumping off the lodge to follow his bag, so he backtracked and came down the steps inside.

The two began to move items from Connie’s bag to the cheeseburger, with some help from Pearl, who proceeded to nix many of Steven’s ideas to bring along various board games (for when they got bored) and other items that wouldn’t work well on a mission. When it was all said and done, Pearl thought it better for Connie to take the sweater, along with her flashlight, two bottles of water, and a few energy bars.

By the time they had gotten the items narrowed down and loaded, Garnet was making her way out of the Temple proper and took her stance on the warp. “Hey, you two,” she called, seeing the children standing by the table. “Let’s move on out.”

“Alright!” Steven exclaimed, rushing over to the warp pad, Connie right behind him. “Where we going, Garnet?”

“There’s a gem structure I want to check out.”

“You’ve seen something?” asked Pearl.

The taller gem shrugged. “Just something I want to check out,” she replied. “Figured I’d take the Jam Buds with me, pick up a slow day.”

“Well, what is it, exactly?” Pearl asked. As much as she trusted Garnet’s judgement, she often hated the vague explanations the permafusion would give to some of their missions, especially where Steven was concerned. “I mean, don’t you think it might be better for me to come along with you? Or at the very least, Amethyst?”

“Pearl, there’s no need to worry,” Garnet said, holding up a palm to stop the other gem’s arguments. “Steven and Connie have both passed their trials and are more than capable of handling themselves.”

While it was on the tip of her tongue to push the issue, the lithe gem none the less backed off, holding up both her hands in accord. Besides, she wasn’t completely immune to the looks the two teens were giving her – sad, puppy dog faces that always pulled at her. “Alright, alright,” she relented. “I can only hope you’ll bring back my student in the same condition as you take her.”

Giving her a two-fingered salute, Garnet replied, “Gem’s honor.”

“Does that go for me, too?” Steven asked.

Giving the boy a fond look, Pearl stated, “That will _always_ go for you.”

Steven smiled brightly at his caretaker.

“Amethyst went out to visit Vidalia, so you have the whole place to yourself.”

The second gem opened her mouth to responded, but the trio was taken away by the light of the warp pad before she could, though she noted the small smirk that lined the mouth of the permafusion. It only took a few moments for Pearl to wonder what Garnet might have been up to – after all, as much as they might deny it, both fusion and her components were helpless romantics and the lithe gem wouldn’t put it past them to have arranged for this ‘mission’ to kill two events with one action.

It of course didn’t help that Pearl’s hand had automatically gone to extract the newly purchased cell phone from her gem. After their rock show chaos, Greg had been gracious enough to present Pearl with her own mobile phone, stating that he felt better that at least one of the gems would be able to get a hold of.

She could tell it was a cover up right from the beginning, if his knowing smile was anything to go by. Of course Steven – and possibly Amethyst – had regarded the musician with the tale of her speeding after an unknown human woman before gaining the confidence to actually go up and speak to her. The three had made a big deal about being able to get the woman’s phone number, especially considering Pearl’s unorthodox greeting.

That had been a few months ago and since then, Pearl and her ‘mystery girl’ (whose real name was Sheena) had been in contact with each other via the phone and had even gone out on a few ‘dates’.

Looking at the phone, Pearl was left with a prime opportunity – with Garnet, the children, and Amethyst all apparently out of the house, she didn’t really have a lot to do there. Turning on the display, she easily found Sheena’s number – the fourth person listed in her four person list of contacts – and selected the option to text message.

**_Pearl: Hello. Are you currently busy?_ **

There was a span of silence for about two minutes before the familiar ding of an incoming message sounded through the living room.

 **_Sheena: Hey baby!_ ** **_Nothing’s going on here at Shay Central. What’s up with you?_ **

**_Pearl: It looks as though I have the rest of the day free and it would seem the perfect occasion for us to, maybe, hang out? Would you want to spend lunch together?_ **

**_Sheena: That all depends._ **

Pearl looked at the screen, wondering if perhaps there was something Sheena needed or perhaps she had interrupted something when another text came in.

**_Sheena: Are you on the menu?_ **

The gem couldn’t help but blush at that. Sheena hadn’t been the least bit shy in letting Pearl know that she was _very_ interested in her, even with the knowledge that Pearl wasn’t human. It was new territory for both – they had both been in long term relationships previously, but those had ended on rather negative terms. They had yet to broach the actual subject and Pearl had been doing her best to trap down any thoughts or mentions of Rose Quartz until she absolutely needed to bring them up.

Which would hopefully be never.

After a few flirtatious messages, Sheena made the statement that she would be more than happy to see the gem and that she should absolutely come over. Glancing at the time on the top right corner, Pearl noted it was only a little after 9:30am, which left several hours before lunch. She didn’t want to be presumptuous…

**_Pearl: You haven’t had breakfast, per chance?_ **

**_Sheena: Same question as before. Are you on the menu for breakfast?_ **

**_Pearl: And again, it all depends on how good you’ve been._ **

**_Sheena: Baby, you kill me._ ** **_I love seeing you at any time, day or night. Come over._ **

Pearl couldn’t help the blush nor the smile that graced her face.

**_Pearl: I’m on my way._ **


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet, Steven, and Connie arrive in a green landscape and find more questions than answers.

The country of Nemey was located in the southern most portion of Sarabia, surrounded by tropical trees and wildlife, which made up 98% of the area, with the other 2% belonging to human cities. Most humans didn’t journey outside of the cities, into the jungles or other wilder parts of the forests; stories had been told and passed down through generations about strange sounds that came from inside the brush and a few villagers had managed to escape strange creatures by the skin of their teeth.

Right in the heart of the great green overgrowth was a warp pad, located only a few miles from the very structure Garnet wanted to investigate. She had been getting flashes of the structure and of the corrupted gem that lurked around or inside of it; unfortunately, that was as far as her precognition went.

And it was one of the reasons she had wanted to go check it out.

“Wow,” whispered Connie, as she looked around at their surroundings. They were encased in greenery, with large trees hovering above them and various bushes littering the ground. “Where are we?”

“Nemey,” Garnet stated, stepping off the warp pad and heading straight ahead. “There’s an ancient gem structure that I wanted to check out. I’ve seen a few flashes of a corrupted gem being trapped inside and…something else that I’m not entirely sure of.”

“How long do you think it’s been there?” Steven asked quietly. He always hated the idea of corrupted gems roaming around and not knowing who they were or even where they were; the teenager already felt tremendous pressure for not living up to his potential as the son of Rose Quartz and he had promised to himself that he _would_ cure the barrier that blocked these gems from being who they used to be.

He just didn’t know how to do that.

His healing spit only seemed to do so much, evident by his friend Centipeedle quickly reverting back after she had told her story about the day the war ended. He had gotten closer with Centi than even his mother had, so that must have meant something in the scheme of things. He hoped.

“How many gem structures are there?” Connie asked, catching up to the two after her cursory sightseeing.

“Thankfully, not as many as Homeworld wanted,” replied the fusion. “But there are still some here and to be honest, I’m starting to get a little annoyed at having to find these after the fact.”

It _was_ a little grating that they were still finding these structures hidden away. Granted, they weren’t aware of how extensive Pink Diamond’s plans were for her Earth colony until Peridot showed them, but they had known enough to try and stop more Kindergartens from being built.

The three continued their trek, with only a few stray sentences between Steven and Connie. The terrain was mostly flat dirt, though there were parts where spurts of grass lining and in the middle of the road. Soon however, Garnet stopped, causing the teens to do so as well.

In the distance, was a rather large temple that curved outward, with a grayish-white tone as its color base. It was surrounded by trees and patches of grass, probably the only place in the area that was, however the trio didn’t know if it was by design or just over growth. There was a solid door in the middle of its curve and from there, the trio could easily see the former Diamond Authority insignia stationed next to it.

Once again, Garnet led the way forward, bringing herself and the two teens directly in front of the structure and its entry way. Upon closer inspection, the insignia was revealed to be a hand pad, one that was common to open doorways and passageways for gems. Steven took the initiative to get closer to the pad, his hand hovering over it as he looked back at Garnet. He had a tendency to sometimes jump before he looked and it had caused more harm than good on some of their missions.

The permafusion gave a slight nod, not sensing any type of trap that they could fall into, however she noted Connie was already in a battle stance, Rose’s sword extended before her and at the ready.

Getting the go ahead, Steven placed his hand on the pad.

And received a loud buzz for his trouble.

“What does that mean?” Connie asked, watching as Steven tried it again only to hear the same noise.

“Well…” the teen began, squinting to look at the strange text that appeared after he removed his hand. Soon his brain supplied him with the realization of where he had seen similar symbols – around the Sky Arena and other abandoned gem places. He was looking at the native gem language, something Pearl had been enthusiastic to teach him after trying to understand what Centi had been trying to tell him.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t gotten very far, given they had still be trying to find (and had found) Jasper, the reappearance of Bismuth (and everything that entailed), and then finding themselves back in space; those lessons had to be put on hold and sadly, they hadn’t been pushed to the forefront.

“I’m pretty sure this thing is telling me something in the gem language,” he explained, turning a sheepish look at the two. “But…I have no idea what it says.”

Garnet watched as he tried for a third time, leaning over his shoulder when he removed his hand. “Hmm,” she murmured, returning to her natural height and crossing her arms. “This is a restricted area. Only elite members are allowed to enter.”

“So we can’t get in?” Steven asked, his body sagging in disappointment.

“Hmmm.”

Garnet considered the options. Restricted areas always meant you had to be a high-ranking member of a Diamond court, meaning that whatever was behind the door had been extremely important to Homeworld at one time or another. Its abandonment had most likely come during the last days of the war, though she could only speculate if anyone had bothered to clean out the inside.

That gave way to a question – who was the corrupted gem in its former life and how did it manage to get stuck inside?

It was a little disconcerting that she was only seeing visions of this structure now, which meant there had to be more inside that just a corrupted gem. But they would never know unless they could get in. Garnet knew the structure wouldn’t recognize her as even being a gem, so that left the only tried and true method.

Breaking down the door.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

Both Garnet and Steven turned to look at Connie, who had a contemplative look on her face. “Connie.”

She was remembering something Steven had once told her and it made her wonder if the answer was right in front of them. “You said that only a high-ranked member of the Diamonds could enter, right?” she asked, receiving nods from both. “Someone who is probably requested to have an audience with them on a constant basis, yeah? Well, would a _sapphire_ be able to get us in?”

The permafusion almost smacked herself in the head. It had never even occurred to her to go that route, even though Sapphire’s former status as an aristocrat would absolutely guarantee a way in.

Unless of course the facility was strictly for military personnel only, which could also be an entry way through Ruby. Possibly.

Garnet chuckled in mirth before taking a few steps backwards. In a quick flash of light, where Garnet had been now stood the two components that made her up – Ruby and Sapphire. The latter made her way towards the door, giving the young girl’s arm a pat as she passed with a “Clever girl”. Placing her palm against the door, it immediately opened to allow them entry.

The quartet was met with a darkened room that only lit up when Ruby used the gem on her palm to shine a light within. “Alright,” she directed. “Steven and I will take point, Sapphire next, and Connie watches our backs.” Both teens nodded their agreement.

“Steven.”

The boy turned and was met with a flashlight, the very one that Connie had packed earlier. Taking it from her, Steven gave her a smile, stating, “Thanks, Connie. Once again, you’ve managed to bring light to a dark place.”

Ruby and Sapphire shared a look, before the red gem chuckled. “Follow me, slick,” she said, poking the teen in the side and taking the first steps into the temple.

The temple, like most gem structures, was larger on the inside than what it appeared from the outside. From the dual lights coming through Ruby and Steven’s flashlight, they could see the floor was made of linoleum or whatever material gems used for clear, glossy flooring. The walls were done in what resembled an eggshell blue, with black paneling towards the bottom; the intricate designs on the panel reminded Steven of what he had seen in the moon base nearly a year ago.

The room seemed empty until Ruby swung her hand around to light up a control panel that sat near the center. “Ruby, come with me,” Sapphire said, walking towards the panel, her partner right behind her. The two stared down at a rather complex series of screens and pads that all seemed to be offline and didn’t appear to want to tell them how to turn it on. Taking a literal stab in the dark, Sapphire took her chance with the one screen that did seem to be lightly backlit, using two of her fingers swipe up on the display.

Immediately the room was light in a bright glow, allowing the teens to look around in awe. “And Sapphire said, ‘let there be light’,” Ruby joked, sending a smile to the blue gem.

“What is this place?” Connie asked.

Ruby and Sapphire looked at each other before eyeing the panel screens before them. “We should probably find that out,” Sapphire replied.

“Yeah.”

Ruby’s eyes scanned the unfamiliar display. Rubies were soldiers at least, brawlers at most, so they never really needed to understand the complexities of these types of systems. The most they had to learn was navigation, though even that was usually left to those who had been chosen to be pilots, which this Ruby wasn’t.

“Kinda wishing we had taken Pearl up on her offer,” she muttered.

But what Ruby lacked in engineering and mechanical know-how, she made up for it with the ability of thinking on her feet. In most cases, it could be a virtue. Thankfully, this was one of those cases. Pointing to a blinking screen, she said, “This” before changing her mind and pointing at a nearby screen and stating, “No, _this_.”

Swiping a finger across the display, the group waited to see if anything would happen. After about a minute – and the point where Ruby was just about to walk off – there was a flicker that came from the back of the panel. It flickered once, then twice, before it began to reveal itself as the outline of a form. It flickered for a fifth time, but now the form was solid and seemed stable enough to appear before them.

“Oh, you’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” Ruby spat.

Before them stood a gem Connie had never seen before, but seemed to be familiar to her other three companions. The gem was taller than they were, probably about Pearl’s height; she actually reminded the teen of one of Pearl’s holograms, which was essentially with this gem was. The coloring of the holo was difficult, as it was shaded in a transparent blue, but Connie did note the strange hairdo – two cone like buns sat on either side of her head – and the very stern look she was giving them.

“Please state your gem function and nature of this visit,” the hologram replied, sternly.

“Um…” Steven began, throwing a look towards the two smaller gems. “Hi? I uh…don’t suppose you remember me, do you?”

“Please state your gem function and nature of this visit.”

Sapphire hadn’t been expecting this. Oh, she had seen the structure in her visions and knew somewhere within was a corrupted gem; past that, she hadn’t foreseen the door panel nor this Agate hologram. “I am Sapphire, cut…7EL, Facet…12?”

The blue gem shrugged when Ruby looked at her. It wasn’t that she had forgotten her previous designation – well, technically she had, as it had been several millennia since the last time she had actually needed to use it – but if she knew the Diamonds, and she did, very well, she knew that she and Ruby both had been listed among the other Crystal Gems as traitors to Homeworld. That meant their designations had been blasted out to every loyal gem in the empire, even if they did spend the majority of their time as Garnet.

The quartet waited for several moments while the hologram seemed to be processing the information given to her. After a time, its face lit up in recognition. “Oh!” it exclaimed. “My Grand Clarity! How wonderful to see you again!”

“Is this the same Holly Blue we met at the zoo?” Steven asked. “Because she clearly remembers you.”

“She doesn’t remember _me_ , per se,” Sapphire replied. At the looks she received, she amended with, “I didn’t give her _my_ designation, I gave her _a_ designation. Wanted status for war criminals does not expire on Homeworld, even though I’m sure this is a different Agate than the one we’ve encountered.”

Turning back to the hologram, the former diplomat replied, “Agate, it is of course…agreeable to see you. I’m hoping you can help me.”

“But of course, My Clarity,” the agate replied. “It is of course my utmost pleasure in helping such a marvelous, radiant gem as yourself for whom…”

To Connie, and even Steven, Sapphire didn’t seem the least phased by the incredibly grating and loud praise the hologram was heaping on her, but Ruby knew differently. She could hear the soft grunt her lover had let out somewhere in the middle of this and she knew from experience that under those bangs, Sapphire had rolled that pretty little blue eye of hers at least twice.

“I can burn the whole place down,” she whispered, sending her counterpart a look. “Should only take a few minutes.”

Thankfully, the agate managed to stop her ‘flowing praise’ as it were to get to the very heart of why the team was there in the first place. “How may I be of assistance?”

“I’m curious as to what this facility is,” Sapphire replied. “I’m rarely on this colony, so I’m a bit interested to learn more about it.”

“This facility was, in part, built for illustrious members of the diamond courts,” The agate began. “Such as yourself. These beginning rooms are for important lectures and observations, while the rooms further in are more for research and development.”

“Research and development?” Ruby whispered, confused.

“What would Homeworld need to research on Earth?” asked Connie.

“More importantly,” Steven stated, looking at his companions. “What exactly did they _develop_?”

The group looked at the agate, awaiting her answer. When none came, Ruby asked, “Well?”

Again, the agate just stood there until Sapphire made a small huff. Even as a hologram, agates were extremely…uppity. “Agate,” she began, stomping down the clear reaction to let Ruby do her worst on the transparent being. “What goes on in the rooms for research and development?”

“My apologies, your grandness,” Agate replied, her face masking in a look of disappointment. “I’m afraid I can’t reveal that, as it would require a level two military authorization.”

Seizing on the moment and wording, Sapphire said, “I understand of course, however, my personal ruby _does_ have level two military authorization.”

Though the Homeworld agate was merely a hologram, the look of disbelief and scorn came across very clearly. “Really?”

Okay, not really. Ruby was…well, a ruby and most rubies only had the standard level of authorization; those at level three and higher were usually assigned directly to a Diamond or one of her entourage. Technically, Ruby did have level _three_ authorization or at least she had when she had been assigned as one Sapphire’s guards.

“Yeah, really,” Ruby sneered.

“Agate,” Sapphire said, interrupting whatever rant was about to take place. “I realize that we’re putting you in a most difficult situation, however I am only acting on orders from our Diamond. She just wanted a quick update on what was happening down here.”

The very mention of a Diamond, regardless of which, was enough to change the agate’s entire demeanor. “Yes of course, My Clarity,” she replied. “I should have realized that from the moment you activated me. Well, as you know, the glorious Pink Diamond built this structure of help secure this miserable planet for the glory of the Diamonds.

“However, thanks to the wondrous generosity of _Blue_ Diamond, this facility will further our great gem empire. The secret is…”

The agate stopped midsentence, freezing in her speech. The quartet waited a few moments before looking at each other in confusion, anger, and concern.

“Great,” Ruby growled, banging a fist on the control panel. If she had hoped that might jump start the hologram, it did the complete opposite and instead sent the agate flickering before fading out completely. “Ugh!”

“It’s alright,” the blue gem replied, placing a calming hand on the red gem’s arm. “We knew this might be a possibility. This _is_ an ancient structure, after all; be surprised the lights even came on. This is not a setback; this only leads us to plan B.”

“You mean the part where along with finding that corrupted gem, we try to find out what might have gone on around here?”

“Exactly.”

“Well,” Steven said, pointing to a door in the distance. “There’s a friendly looking door over there we could try.”

“Only way forward is to, you know…go forward,” Connie agreed.

“Precisely.”

 

* * *

 

The second room was much like the first.

Or rather, it would’ve been before the current disarray the quartet found themselves in. After having Sapphire open the door, the group stood in the doorway, surveying the apparent damage that had been done inside – a similar control panel that had been on a raised platform was now smashed to pieces, segments of it littered on the floor.

The room was cast in a light, reddish shadow, mostly due to the still blinking lights that managed to remain on the console. From what they could see, even the flooring and parts of the walls had been ruined, as though something had been trying to get _out_.

“I think we can safely say that the corrupted gem has been here.”

“And was trying to leave in a hurry.”

Steven let the conversation between the two smaller gems fade in the background as he looked around the room. Everything had nearly been destroyed and from all of his missions with the Gems, he couldn’t ever recall a corrupted gem being so…destructive. At least not in one place.

Ruby was the first inside, taking measured steps as she sidestepped debris and began to look around. She waved the others in, with a stern warning to each to be careful, and they began to fan out. Like Steven, Ruby couldn’t recall the last time she had seen such chaos from a corrupted gem; in most cases, the gem wasn’t actively trying to destroy anything or anyone around them – it was a simple fight or flight response, though for most gems, it was always more fight than flight.

That’s actually how Garnet, Pearl, and Rose had been able to identify some of the corrupted gems they had come across. Oh, in many cases, they weren’t sure who they were, but in others they had a fairly good idea of _what_ they had been.

Those that immediately tried to attack them they had identified as being part of the soldier class – jaspers, amethysts, rubies – they had been made to fight and thus, always did so, even if meant fighting against the gems who were trying to help them. Gems who were more reserved, frightened about encountering the others could only be gems whose purpose was to support the troops, not participate within the war itself or those who had been stranded on Earth.

But no matter what their purpose or their class, Rose had always tried to heal them. And always cried when she couldn’t.

Shaking those memories – both from her and from Garnet – Ruby continued to survey the damage and the one thing she took away from it was that this was not anything _small_. While rubies had strength of their own and personally, Ruby could no doubt put a dent in that control panel, there was no way she’d be able to do so alone.

And the evidence of _something_ trying to escape was apparent.

But that only brought about more questions – if there was a corrupted gem inside, how did it get there? By all evidence, the ability to shield that Diamonds’ last attack is what saved the remaining Crystal Gems and if that was true, how did this corrupted gem become corrupted? Had it been on the outside and then come inside?

If so, how?

Ruby hated questions, especially those that didn’t seem to have a readily available answer. As her eyes looked upwards, they ran over a corner of the room before immediately going back to that spot. Towards the upper portion of the room was a small ledge that went around about half of the wall, a gem mantelpiece to make the comparison, where the elites and intelligent higher ups usually placed their idols and sculptures.

However, on this ledge, stuck in the corner, was something Ruby couldn’t identify. Holding up her left hand, she shone a light on the area with her gem, however the hue of the room and Ruby’s own gem color made it hard to make out the item. “Hey Connie,” she called over her shoulder. “Still got that flashlight?”

Connie had been checking out the damage to the floor when she heard Ruby call her over. Standing, she called out an affirmative before walking over to Steven, who was checking out the broken control panel with Sapphire. The hybrid had offered to carry the cheeseburger backpack, which Connie had been wearing on her back over the familiar pink scabbard, so he stood up to allow her to grab the flashlight she had placed within the top bun.

Once the flashlight was in her hand, the red gem quickly shone it in the spot she had been examining for nearly five minutes. “Is that a gem?” the girl asked, causing the other two members to turn towards them.

“What?” Sapphire asked.

“Only way to be sure,” Ruby began. “Was if we had someone who was tall and had some sort of floaty power to get up there.”

Connie didn’t miss the way the red gem shot her a look, which only caused her to smile. Turning to look at Steven, she saw the same excited gaze that she held on her own face – this would be the first actual time they would use Stevonnie on a mission. Without a word, the two performed the same maneuver they had yesterday, easily forming the younger fusion.

“Think you can make it up there, stretch?” asked the red gem.

“No problem,” the fusion replied, sending a smile to both gems. Considering they were on their very first mission ever, launching themselves towards the wall was an easy feat; what wasn’t easy was trying to land back on the ledge after they had shot past it. Luckily, Stevonnie was able to float down enough to sit on it and reach the gem.

Grabbing it, she looked down at the two gems waiting for them. “Heads up, Red!” they exclaimed, tossing the gem down to the waiting hands of Ruby before following it down and landing a short way from the duo standing together.

Ruby was already holding the gem, encased in a red bubble, and was staring at it in confusion. The gem was a smooth green and something that, while rare, Ruby had seen before – an aventurine. Aventurines were rare quartz soldiers, seen during the height of the war, comparable to jaspers and just as deadly.

“How does an aventurine make her way up to the ledge?” Sapphire asked, staring at the bubbled gem.

“And it’s completely dust free, too,” Stevonnie mentioned, causing the two to glance at them.

“How’s that?” Ruby asked, in confusion.

Pointing up to the ledge, they said, “It’s really dusty up there. You know, as though no one’s been in here for a thousand years or so?” Gesturing to the gem, they continued with, “There’s no dust on that gem.”

“As though it hasn’t been _here_ for a thousand years,” Sapphire replied, following the younger fusion’s logic.

“If that’s true,” Ruby picked up. “How long ago did this aventurine come here? And if it _has_ been recent, why didn’t she reform?”

Stevonnie shook their head. “What was she even doing here?” they asked.

“And what exactly poofed her?” asked Sapphire.

“The corrupted gem?” Ruby questioned.

“Possible,” the blue gem murmured, tapping the top of the bubble and sending the gem off to the Temple’s Burning Room. “Stevonnie, would you like a homework assignment?”

“Sure?”

“How long can you stay fused?” asked Ruby.

That was a question the younger fusion wasn't sure they could answer. In all of their times being fused, it had been short - the longest time had to be when they had fallen from the Sky Area, as it had taken them at least an hour of wondering to find the nearest warp pad and even then, Garnet had stumbled on them first.

Thinking back, their entire existence could be measured in the span of perhaps five to six hours, spread out across several different events.

“I’m not sure,” they answered, after careful contemplation of the question.

“That’s your assignment for today,” Ruby said. “See how long you can stay fused for.” Looking around the room, she muttered, “I have a feeling we’ll need all the help we can get.”

“Stevonnie,” Sapphire replied, looking at the fusion. “If any time you feel as though you can’t maintain the fusion…”

The fusion nodded. “I can do it.”

The two gems matched their nod. “Then let us continue,” Sapphire said. “The answers we seek are deeper still.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Further in, our trio finds more information they aren't happy with.

Sapphire placed her hand on the pad for the next room, watching it slide open. “Watch your step,” she said, halting her lover’s entrance. Ruby took a step back, her eyes trained on the floor and seeing the discolored area before her easily. A trap was being laid before them – the why was at the forefront of her mind, however the important aspect was to avoid it and make sure the others did too.

Sending a wink to the blue gem, Ruby easily went around the obvious diversion.

Only to be thrown up in the air about fifteen feet and then failing hard to the floor below.

“Ruby!”

Both fusion and seer immediately rushed to the red gem’s side as she lay unmoving on the ground.

“Are you okay?” Stevonnie asked, worriedly.

“Yes,” Ruby groaned, though she still didn’t move. “I’m fine. This nice…hard…concrete floor broke my fall. And my face. You guys go on, I’m just gonna lay here for a minute. Or ten. Definitely come back if I haven’t gotten up in twenty minutes. Because I might be dead.”

The two quickly helped the red gem to her feet, causing her to moan, “Ow, my face.”

“Sure you’re okay?” Stevonnie asked again. “I mean, that looked painful.”

“No,” Ruby murmured, shaking the cobwebs from her brain. “I mean, yeah. I mean, I’m fine. I’m fine! I’m a ruby! Strong, hearty…uh…other words that mean the same thing. Nothing’s wrong with me…um…”

“Stevonnie.”

“Right!” Ruby exclaimed, wincing not only at the volume that she said it, but the fact that she had, momentarily, forgotten that little detail. “Yes, Stevonnie is absolutely your name! Knew that. That is…not at all troubling.”

“Why would anyone want to boobytrap this room?” the young fusion asked.

“Those are my thoughts exactly,” Sapphire replied, looking around.

Instead of there being a control panel, this room instead just had a single column standing near the back wall. From Steven and Connie’s memories, Stevonnie knew this was something similar to what the two teens had seen in Rose’s Armory and what Steven had seen Peridot use underneath the Prime Kindergarten.

Leaving her slightly disoriented partner with their fellow fusion, Sapphire made her way to the column, placing her hand on top of it, and waited for something to happen. But nothing did. Something tickled at her mind that things weren’t as they seemed and she couldn’t help but turn Stevonnie’s question over in her mind.

“Is something supposed to happen?” Stevonnie asked. They had moved to stand on the other side of the blue gem, while Ruby stood on the other.

Shaking her head in confusion, the seer replied, “I…am unsure.”

“Well,” the younger fusion began, worrying their bottom lip between their teeth. “Didn’t Holly Blue back there say the further we went in, the more…research and development we’d get into? Maybe this is where we need to have military access.”

Ruby nodded, slowly. Giving Sapphire’s arm a squeeze, she waited until the blue gem had removed her own hand and replaced it with her red one. Truthfully, neither gem expected anything to happen, which would be annoying in its own right. Not only had they not seen nor heard of the supposed corrupted gem inside the building, but they had been presented with a mystery that they hadn’t even known was there.

Remarkably however, it seemed as though Ruby’s former security level was still intact despite her traitorous status – a large video screen activated before them on the back wall, displaying first a blank screen before the former four-tiered symbol of the Diamond Authority revealed itself.

“I can’t believe that worked,” the soldier murmured, watching at the logo disappeared and the group was presented with a map of the building, along with some text clearly written in the gem language. The map showed each individual room within the building, with some even littered throughout its curved hallway.

Using the individual digits on the hand pad, Ruby maneuvered to the next screen, which seemed to be discussing the first room they had entered through – the foyer – before moving to the next screen.

As before, this screen displayed the room they had just come from, back when it was still intact. As thought, that room had been a gathering place of the Homeworld elite – thinkers, inventors, gems like sapphires and morganites could usually be found in attendance there.

Ruby quickly skipped past the next two screens, which just talked about the start of what would be considered the research and development portion. “Wait,” Sapphire said, holding out a hand to stop Ruby from going further. “Go back.”

The red gem gave the seer a look, however she none the less followed the instruction and went back to the previous screen. She hadn’t thought anything of it – again, it was just a description of the room itself - but Sapphire must have seen something. And if Sapphire had seen something…

Ruby stood and read what she thought was going to be a boring bit of prose until she heard the sudden gasp from the blue gem.

The first paragraph was exactly as she thought – what the purpose of their current room was for and how it tied in with the rest of the building – but it was the following paragraph that was the truly interesting thing and what had made Sapphire gasp in the first place.

“ _It is the hope of the facility ,and the great authority that governs our glorious empire, that a solution be sought, tested, and presented to counter act the rebel forces that are currently undermining the future of this colony per orders from Yellow Diamond._

_“While tests are still ongoing, the primarily function of this research lab is to discover the root cause of the rebellion, with efforts focused on conditioning the minds of those gems currently against our society and glorious leaders.”_

The trio stood in silence after the former solider read the passage. So that was the main purpose of the building – capturing and no doubt, torturing any member of the Crystal Gems unfortunately enough to run afoul of the area.

“Son of a…”

“Ruby,” Sapphire chastised.

Stevonnie thought on the description, pulling together the knowledge Steven and Connie knew in terms of gem experiments and they could only think of one thing.

“Do you think this explains what Steven and Garnet found under the Prime Kindergarten?” they asked. “Or what happened at the hospital with Connie?”

“Oh, no doubt,” Ruby hissed. She had never forgotten what they had seen that day and it still rubbed her wrong in every bit of sense.

“That’s just speculation,” Sapphire replied, her voice soft yet hard. “It doesn’t say anything like that here.”

“Come off it,” the soldier spat. “You’re thinking the same thing I am.”

“Do not presume to know what I am thinking right now.”

Even if she didn’t want to admit it, Sapphire _was_ most likely thinking the same thing everyone else was - Nemey was a far cry from the Prime Kindergarten, but it wasn’t a distance that couldn’t be covered by warp pad. Garnet, Steven, and Connie had seen the aftermath and it seemed they had found, at the very least, the seeds that lead to what they had discovered nearly two years ago.

“Guys…”

Stevonnie attempted to put a stop to the bickering. They could feel Connie’s nervousness and anxiety at watching the couple gear up for an argument and the best way was to try and get them to maybe focus on the corrupted gem monster they had yet to find.

“Knock it off. Now’s not the time.”

On the other hand, Stevonnie could also feel Steven’s annoyance and irritation. He _had_ seen the two argue and while he’d been told it was a minor disagreement, it was obviously enough for him to not want to experience that again, especially when they were supposed to be on a mission to find a corrupted gem. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about what they had discovered – that day would never leave his mind either, but more to the fact that he had never seen Garnet so distracted by something before – it was that he hated when the gems fought and he _especially_ hated it when these two particular gems were against each other.

The inner conflict was there, however it was strangely mirrored on the same point – neither Steven nor Connie wanted to see Ruby or Sapphire fighting and instead, they wanted to focus on what their original purpose was – finding the corrupted gem. Once the two agreed, the momentary feeling of disorientation ceased and Stevonnie seemed to be set on their next course of action.

An apology.

They hadn’t meant to snap at either gem and it had been rude for them to do so. But before they could even make the appropriate sound, Sapphire was already waving them off. “No,” she said. “You’re right. Now isn’t the time. If anything, this is more of a distraction than anything else. We need to find that corrupted gem, then we can worry about what we’ve just seen.”

Stevonnie nodded, turning from the two to head over to the next door and the next room, the blue gem right behind her. Ruby’s grabbing of her hand stopped her, causing Sapphire to turn at look at her partner.

“Sorry.”

Sapphire could feel the warmth from her hand – Ruby’s core temperature always ran hot – but she knew this wasn’t just because of Ruby’s gem type. Garnet had nearly come apart in the Kindergarten and in front of Steven, for a second time no less; they had thoughts on the matter, on what Homeworld could have possibly be thinking to…do… _that_ to their fellow Gems and friends.

And their stunning conclusion had done nothing to quiet their minds, fusion _or_ individual components.

Only a week ago, they had stated quite clearly to Dr. and Mr. Maheswaran how very seriously they took the act of fusion and finding this information only served to agitate them both.

Giving the hand a comforting squeeze, Sapphire said, “I know.” 

With a slight tug, the seer was able to pull her bodyguard along, stopping at the door where Stevonnie stood waiting for the two. Before dropping the hand, the gem pulled Ruby towards her, surprising her with a quick peck on her lips.

“Are we gonna have to separate you two?” Stevonnie joked, a slight smile on her face.

“We’re behaving,” Sapphire replied, hand poised to open the door.

“Some of us more than others,” quipped Ruby.

Nodding to her, the red gem watched as the seer opened the door, putting the trio is a near identical room they had been in. The same control panel stood in the same area within the room, with the same room aesthetics as the previous ones they had been in. “Gems don’t really believe in theme differentiation, do they?” the fusion asked, looked around the room.

“We are strangely light on interior decorators,” Ruby stated.

As before, Ruby led the group inside, keeping an eye out for any type of trap but halfway into the room, nothing seemed to be happening. Sapphire and Stevonnie immediately made their way to the control panel which, unlike the other panels they had encountered, was already activated.

“That’s not weird or anything, right?” the fusion quipped, sending a concerned look towards the seer.

“Something isn’t right here,” Sapphire muttered. “And I am growing increasingly frustrated that I can’t seem to figure out what.”

“Don’t worry,” Stevonnie said, smiling. “We’ll figure it out, we always do.”

Sapphire couldn’t help but smile at the fusion. It was such a Steven thing to say, even though she knew Connie most likely felt the same. She hadn’t been sure what they would actually find – at the forefront of her vision had been the corrupted gem, but it was enough of a reason to also investigate anything out of the ordinary.

Things had been quiet of late in their small, sleepy little town, but it was always quiet before the storm, as the saying went. She was glad Garnet had the foresight to invite the two teenagers and even more of an advantage when the idea of testing their fusion seemed to present itself.

There was a part of her that wondered if her heightened anxiety and paranoia was due to _not_ being fused herself; Sapphire and Ruby weren’t exactly known for enjoying any time apart, even when the situation might call for it, as it was in this case. And while this was important – they wouldn’t have been able to get as far as they did without unfusing – Sapphire couldn’t exactly write off her feelings as just being disturbed by what Homeworld may have done to gems in this building.

A shout from Ruby immediately cut short her thoughts, as she and Stevonnie turned to watch as the red gem was now hanging upside by some invisible line and shouting. “Why do these rooms hate me!?”

“Don’t worry, baby,” Sapphire said, turning to the control panel and looking at the different panels. “I’ll get you get down.”

Like Ruby before her, Sapphire was not adept at working with the inner mechanisms of the machines used on Homeworld. Those were jobs usually given to, well, pearls to be honest and at most, they only needed to be aware of certain combination of display screens to achieve the desired goal and in many cases, most gems were trained to handle these types of displays.

Sapphires were not one of those gems.

In another life, Sapphire wouldn’t even be this far deep into this building and if given the choice, she certainly wouldn’t bother with trying to figure out what any of these tiles could possibly mean.

But that had been another lifetime ago. In this lifetime, Sapphire was more apt to be more intuitive and in some cases, impulsive and she owed it to the very gem she was going to take her cues from. Touching one of display and swiping up, both she and Stevonnie watched as Ruby immediately shot upwards.

“Okay,” the fusion observed. “That was the opposite of down.” Stevonnie made their own contribution, swiping across another screen; that only caused Ruby to drop quickly towards the ground before stopping right as her head would smash into the floor.

“Okay,” Ruby replied, shakily. “Listen. I can touch the floor…” Her stubby fingers could briefly brush across the tile below her. “I can kinda touch the floor,” she amended. “So I really think…”

She never had a chance to finish when she immediately yanked up once more, but to the height she had found herself in the first place, dangling a few feet above the ground. It wouldn’t have been such a bad predicament if Stevonnie and Sapphire weren’t going back and forth, swiping across and pushing different displays, causing the former guard to be slammed into the wall twice.

“Please stop helping me!” she exclaimed, flailing her arms to try and get their attention.

Ruby watched helplessly as Stevonnie reached over and started to press something on the panel. The red gem did her best to try and strength towards her leg, hoping to possibly release herself before the two tried to kill her. She only had a few inches to reach when she felt gravity let go and deposit her to the floor below.

“Good job, you guys.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby thinks about the past, while Stevonnie experiences something new. Neither party likes the outcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, want to send out 'stay safes' to readers in Texas and Florida. Seriously, stay safe you guys! Want to see everyone back once the chaos is over and done with.
> 
> Second, a big thanks to [Alexis_Universe](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexis_universe/pseuds/Alexis_universe) for the help in figuring out this chapter. Go check out their stuff! Well, I mean...read this first, and THEN go check out their stuff :p

By the time the trio had reached the door to their fourth room of the day, they were all starting to think they had somehow missed the corrupted gem. How, they didn’t know, especially when it had destroyed one room already and left the others intact, something that none of them understood the reasons for. It was with growing concern that something was happening just under their noses and they couldn’t figure out what, how, or why.

At this point, Ruby was more than ready to go home. Beaten, battered, and bruised was not how she wanted to spend her day – or rather, today at least – and she was growing more frustrated and annoyed the longer they stayed. She just wanted to find the stupid corrupted gem they had been looking for in the first place and then get the heck out of dodge; so much so, she waved off the concern of the other two – even Stevonnie’s comment that she might possibly have a concussion – and marched stoically towards the door to the next room.

As far as she was concerned, Ruby. Was. Done.

When Sapphire and Stevonnie caught up to her, Ruby shared a look with her counterpart, trying to tell her all the irritation and frustration at this point; from the quick, sullen nod, Ruby knew Sapphire probably thought she was to blame for this – after all, it was _her_ vision that brought them down here in the first place – but the red gem didn’t want her to think that or believe it.

She was feeling anxious, that had to be it. Like Sapphire, Ruby wasn’t always thrilled to be parted from her, even if did give them the excuse to reaffirm what they had discovered millennia ago. Ruby just felt better when being Garnet because Sapphire could handle her rashness and quick-tempered tendencies.

Once they got out of here, Ruby would make it up to her.

Once the door slid open, Ruby stood in the doorway for a moment, surveying the area before her. Like the previous room, this one only held a control panel, however it seemed to be smaller than the previous ones they had seen and seemed much closer to them, being set off to the side instead of the center. Taking the first steps in, Ruby braced herself for anything to happen to her, but surprisingly – and thankfully – nothing did.

There was a feeling in the room, however, something that managed to hit, surround, and pass through the smaller gem within seconds, leaving its presence as though a spark had gone up her back. If she had been human, she might even have said it was like something going up her spine.

The others followed her in, Sapphire coming to stand next to her. “You feel that, too?”

Ruby nodded.

This room was by far different from the others, not in looks, but in environment, something that both small gems had immediately picked up on. Had they reached an actual research area? And if so, what type of research had been conducted here?

“Hey!” came an exclamation. “What…?”

Where the young fusion of Stevonnie had stood were the two teens that made her up, though they seemed to be on the spread out on the floor. “What happened?” Ruby asked.

Connie and Steven looked at each other in confusion and bewilderment. “I don’t know!” the boy cried, surprise heard in his voice.

“Did you want to…?”

“No!”

The two tried to get themselves together, desperately trying to remember what they had thought, done, or said that would make them unfuse like that. The only thing that came to mind was a sensation of being pulled apart, like the time they had gone racing against Kevin; but this seemed different. That time and the one before it had just been them _falling_ apart, this felt as though they had been literally pulled in opposite directions in order to break them apart.

The only thing Steven could compare the sensation to was when he had seen Jasper use the destabilizer on Garnet, poofing her, Ruby, and Sapphire.

Steven had never felt anything like this before, neither had Connie, and both popped up from the floor, quick to reenter the fusion. It had been a jarring experience and one both teens did not enjoy in any measure – it was one thing to unfuse willingly, something completely different when forced to do so.

Pressing their foreheads together, the two thought they would soon be Stevonnie again, but as seconds started to tick into minutes with nothing happening, Connie took a step back, her eyes gazing wildly at her fusion partner. Nodding, Steven spun her towards him, only for her to stumble against him, but still they didn’t fuse.

“Why aren’t we fusing?” Connie asked, a little desperately.

Something about this situation did not sit well with the former soldier. Something was scratching at the back of her mind that was making her uneasy, making her turn her head from watching Steven and Connie try everything to fuse again to watching Sapphire try her hand at the control panel. Despite the bangs that covered the top portion of her face, Ruby knew when Sapphire was looking at her, especially if she did so in a glaring fashion, and immediately she was aware that her partner was staring straight at her.

There must have been a question in her eyes or else the seer just anticipated what the obvious next question would be because she said, “It wouldn’t work. We’d be in the same state they are.”

Something about this was eerily familiar and took a full minute before the memory returned to her…

_They had walked into a trap, one of many apparently, designed to catch the high-ranking members of the Crystal Gems._

_Garnet and Pearl were usually far more prepared than this. Their crusade had always been to sabotage and prevent any more structures from being built on Earth’s soil. Rose had learned from some of the humans near one of their make shift camp that gems like them had been seen constructing a grand temple of some sort._

_The Crystal Gems were still a small force – they barely made a dent at about forty-five – but what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quick and strategic hits on Homeworld and the Diamonds’ attempts at trying to turn the planet into a shell of its former self._

_Literally._

_Rose and a few others had planned to stop another Kindergarten from being built, but she wanted her two generals to check out the human report. This wasn’t the first time Pearl and Garnet had gone out to check something, so it certainly wasn’t a surprise when the thinner gem tried to push for Snowflake to switch with her, so she was able to protect the larger quartz._

_And as always, Rose reassured that she would be quite fine by herself and if anything, she was more worried about **Pearl** getting hurt, winking that hopefully Garnet would protect her._

_“I’m not the one with the swords,” was the cheeky comeback._

_That would usually defuse the situation, causing laughter all around, even from Pearl, who always liked to remind the fusion that the ability to wield the weapon was there when she ever decided to take the offer. Then the two would go off, their mission clear and their intent purposeful._

_As stated, the two had been able to see the construction of a new structure from a few yards away. It looked like another spire, something Pearl and Garnet had some familiarity with – they were intellectual gathering places, where the aristocracy gathered to discuss gem theory and where they believed the gem empire would grow to next. Currently, to their knowledge, there were only two spires completed on Earth’s surface and that was how many the Crystal Gems were planning to let stand._

_It was a simple plan – the two rebels would get the jump on the workers, poofing them and ensuring they were located somewhere else. And then, they were going to tear what was already standing down to the ground._

_Well, that was the plan anyway._

_And it had worked until they were found out by a jasper, who was more than happy to taunt the two, given who they were. At that, most of Homeworld knew who Rose Quartz was and they absolutely knew who the defiant Pearl was at her side._

_And certainly by that time, they knew who the Formidable Fusion was._

_By this point in their rebellion, both Ruby and Sapphire were on the same page on being Garnet for as long as they could. To them, fusion wasn’t just something to be used for military action, it was an expression of absolute trust; for reasons neither of them could explain (or rather, they wouldn’t know the actual words until much later), they trusted each other above anyone else._

_They took fusion very seriously. If you insulted it, you were insulting them and that wouldn’t, **couldn’t** stand._

_Granted, those feelings mostly stemmed from Ruby, but it was enough to set Garnet off, too. So the fusion didn’t think twice about chasing the jasper through the incomplete portion of the structure, into what looked like a completed corridor and room, completely ignoring Pearl’s calls for her to get back there._

_The room was a pale pink in color, the scheme honoring the former leader and ruler of the Earth colony, and was completely empty._

_Skidding across the floor, Garnet came to a stop near the middle and scanned around the room looking for the jasper. There was no sign of the quartz gem, but there was something else going on with Garnet herself. She hadn’t noticed it when first entering, but now that she was standing still, she could feel the tingling in her form._

_It had been gradual when she had entered the room, but now it felt as though she had gotten caught by an agate’s whip. Ruby had been caught by one once and only once, but what they were feeling now was a thousand times worse; it felt like she was being stretched as far as she could go, but the limit was increasing._

_It felt like Garnet was being pulled apart._

_Within a moment of thinking that, Ruby and Sapphire hit the floor hard, sliding away from each other. The red gem threw a look to her counterpart, silent questions being asked in her facial expressions; Sapphire had the gift of sight and had the aggravating habit of answering Ruby’s questions before she had the chance to ask. In any other circumstance, it was a cute quirk (or irritating habit, depending on the day), but right now, Ruby needed her to see the answers._

_Sapphire instinctively knew the questions, she didn’t need the sight because she knew **Ruby**. She gave a quick nod – the answer to her, ‘are you okay?’ – before she shook her head slightly – the answer to whether or not she had wanted to unfuse, which she didn’t._

_“You Crystal Gems,” replied a voice, causing the two smaller gems to look behind them. There was the jasper they had been chasing, arms folded across her chest and a smug look on her face. “So gullible. I can only assume it’s the ruby guiding the actions of your fusion. They never do think before they act. Whether you know it or not, like it or not, but you’ve just completed the first test of this facility.”_

_“Which is?” Sapphire asked._

_“The end to your abominations,” the jasper sneered. “No longer will we - loyal subjects of the glorious Diamonds - be subjected to seeing or fighting your disgusting fusions. It’s sheer joy to watch it work on the fusion that started it all._

_“Do you know how long my Diamond has been chasing you? And now I have the infamous rogue sapphire and her rebel ruby. I almost didn’t believe it at first – why in the world would a sapphire waste even a breath on a lowly ruby – but I’ve seen you in battle and losing you will cut a loss to Rose Quartz and end your miserable rebellion.”_

“Anti-fusion room,” Ruby murmured, looking around, half expecting a jasper to pop out from some hidden doorway.

“What’s an anti-fusion room?” Steven asked, confused.

“It’s a room that prevents gems from fusing,” the red gem replied. “More specifically, a room that prevents _Crystal Gems_ from fusing.”

“What?”

“What was that earlier idea of yours?” Sapphire asked, giving her partner a look.

“Why would a Homeworld base, on Earth, had an anti-fusion room?” asked Connie. “And why would they expect any of us to be here, a thousand something years later?”

Sapphire left her position at the unresponsive control panel to stand next to Ruby. “Why indeed,” she stated.

“You found something?” Ruby asked.

“No,” the blue gem replied. “But something has definitely found us.”

Steven didn’t often feel the sensation when other gems were nearby the way the others did; he always chalked it to some power he just hadn’t unlocked yet, which was of course, typical. But in those very rare cases, the young hybrid managed to sense the _emotions_ of other gems. Well, sometimes and only those powerful enough to trigger them.

He had experienced something like this when Blue Diamond had come to Earth. Steven hadn’t realized this particular power of his _could_ extend halfway across the world, but apparently it didn’t matter the distance as he always knew when the reigning monarch was near. In fact, that was probably the only reason he and his dad had been able to keep clear of her and Yellow Diamond at the zoo.

Now however, the teen wasn’t sure _what_ he was feeling, only that they were definitely, absolutely _not_ alone.

“Guys,” he began, eyes wide as he looked over at Ruby and Sapphire. “I don’t think we’re alone.”

The two smaller gems however seemed to be concerned with other things, as both of their eyes had strayed to the portion of the ceiling right’s corner. “We aren’t,” they both stated, bracing themselves for the attack they knew was coming.

There, hovering above them, was the corrupted gem they had been looking for. It was a grotesque amalgamation of a giant black widow spider, with its gem located in the telltale location of a black widow’s marking. It let out a deafening scream before it leaped towards the smaller gems it had in its sight. Pushing Ruby away from her, Sapphire managed to use her speed to separate the two, just as the spider creature landed, one of its hairy legs smashing into the console behind them.

The impact caused the control panel to spark from the indentation of the hit. “I always knew there was a spark between us,” Sapphire quipped, sending a look to Ruby.

“But I’m not sure this is what you had in mind,” the red gem retorted.

“Seriously!?” Connie exclaimed, watching as the pair dodged around the spider. Connie was aware that the two smaller gems tended to flirt shamelessly with each other, but she would think in the case of being attacked by a twelve foot gem spider creature thing, they could temper the urge. Steven _had_ told her about the baseball game they had, so maybe they just _couldn't_ help themselves.

“You found it funny! Admit it!”

“I admit nothing!”

The creature was fast, quickly spinning around to make another grab for its prey, but was instead met with the sharp end of Connie’s blade. It howled in pain, rearing up on its hind legs and exposing a large stinger towards its bottom half. Thrusting, it tried to sting the one attacking, but a large shield socked it in the belly, causing the spider to drop back to the ground below.

“Guys, over here!”

The trio quickly ran to Steven’s side, right as the spider turned towards the smaller of the two teens. The entire group was together, perfect for destroying, so the creature immediately attacked, only to be stopped by a large pink bubble. With each pounding on the bubble, the occupants inside were jostled slightly and for every time it didn’t break, the creature pounded even harder.

“The door is right behind us,” Sapphire stated, turning her gaze from their exit to her teammates. “We just need to reach it. The spider will be too big to fit through, but we will need to find a way to stop it or else it will just escape and find another way to reach us or worse.”

“Could we roll over?” Ruby suggested.

“Not without breaking the bubble in order to get into the next room.”

“You two go through,” Connie replied. “We’ll create a distraction.”

“What!?”

“That seems unnecessarily dangerous,” the blue gem added.

“Well,” Steven said. “My bubble can’t withhold this onslaught for much longer.” Turning slightly towards the two, he said, "Trust us. We can do this - she's the strawberry..."

"And he's the biscuit."

"And that makes us jam buds," Steven finished, quirking his lips in a confident smil.

The two smaller gems look at each other before turning back to the teens. “Alright,” Ruby said, nodding. If there was one thing Steven never lacked it was determination and Ruby - through Garnet - admired and respected that. “Sapphire and I will open the door and as soon as we do, you get inside. Then we can worry about taking down this big insect.”

“Got it,” Steven replied. His shield materialized in his hand as he took a battle stance. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Ready, Connie?”

Connie had been ready since entering the bubble, her stance wide and the Rose Quartz sword gripped in her hands.

“Drop the bubble.”

Focusing his energy against his bubble, Steven expanded it, pushing off the spider as it disintegrated. With the creature off balance, the familiar pink shield flew through the air like a disc and managed to strike the spider in its gaping maw. Connie was already in position, swinging the large sword in an arc and connecting with the stinger that tried to take her out.

Ruby seemed rooted to the spot as she watched the two coordinate the attack. Watching them in training was nothing compared to seeing that training taken to new heights – Steven and Connie were instinctively on the same page, with no words needing to be said, as though they were well aware of what the other would do before they did it. Even within the ranks of the Crystal Gems, despite often training together and against each other, the solider could only name a few members that fought like that.

And if they hadn’t been in immediate danger, Ruby would’ve been content to just stand and watch.

However Sapphire had other ideas and in the short time her partner had stood, the blue gem was already grabbing her hand and whisking them both to the door and out into a corridor of some sort. Once safely out of the way, the red solider leaned back through the doorway, shouting, “Steven! Connie! Come on!”

The two teens were actively holding their own, spinning in time with their attacks – Steven would block an oncoming attack, before spinning around and letting Connie deliver one of her own. The last round had Connie deliver a solid hit to the creature’s underbelly, causing it to cry out and stumble backwards, giving the two teens the opening they needed to escape. The two ran for the doorway, Steven skidding his way through; Connie, however, had drawn the ire of the creature and it would not be denied. It was nearly on her, one of its spiny legs reaching out to grab her.

“Connie!”

Instead of being caught, the teen dropped to her knees, pushing through her acceleration and sliding across the floor, through the open doorway. She came to a stop by pivoting to a kneel that brought her once again facing their foe. Just as Sapphire predicted, the doorway was too narrow for the creature to enter, but now that it had prey, it was doing its best to reach and crush them.

The quartet found themselves in a hallway, the seemingly curved portion of the building they had noted outside. It was lit, however there were a few places where lights had been shattered and a portion of the roof had fallen to the floor. It was a large, rounded portion of that debris that Ruby picked up and tossed in her left hand.

Looking at the creature, she asked, “You wanna play? Alright, let’s play.”

The fallen object was suddenly surrounded by flames, rising from the palm of the soldier’s hand. “Time for a fireball special.”

Ruby threw the object as hard as she could, its trajectory following a path that would land it straight inside the spider’s throat, which was opened in a chilling scream. Said cry was abruptly cut off, as the object hit its mark, breaking the creature apart in a flash of light.

All that remained was a dark colored gem with tiny flecks within its stone, finally resting on the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the corrupted gem defeated, mission accomplished, right? Not quite, as Sapphire searches for answers to unnerving questions and Ruby runs into some old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is, ladies and gents! We end Fusion Chemistry hopefully on a big bang (you'll see when you get to the end). As mentioned at the top of the story, this is the last of the 'slice of life' storysodes - next story will officially start the serial from which these works are connected.
> 
> I'd like to thank everyone who has read, bookmarked, commented, and all the other good stuff on these stories so far. I'm so glad everyone is loving them as much as I loved writing them. Another thanks to Alexis_Universe for the help for the later scene in this - it's like he knows what I'm thinking and can tell me that what I'm thinking makes sense!
> 
> For those of you still hankering down during Harvey and Irma - please stay safe, find shelter, keep together, you know the drill. I want to see all of you back here when things have settled and everyone's safe.
> 
> I hope everyone joins me for the next story - Gone Steven Gone! And now, without further ado, our conclusion!

With the creature destroyed, a sense of relief fell over the group. Ruby went over to pick up the gem, bubbling and examining it before sending it off to the temple.

“Well, this mission has been an utter disappointment.”

The case was solved, but not for Sapphire’s tastes. Defeating and bubbling the corrupted gem _had_ been the priority after all, but they had managed to stumble on something that had seemingly been going on under their noses for centuries and in no point in time had she even _seen it_. The seer’s ego was stinging, just a bit, and she was hard press to announce or admit it.

“Now now, darling,” Ruby replied, walking back towards the others. “Try to curb your enthusiasm. You’ll make the children think that all of our missions are fun filled adventures.” Turning towards said children, she grinned, saying, “Which they are, absolutely. But yeah, this had been a bit of a bust, soooo…”

Looking at each of them, the soldier said, “Ruby has an idea. I say we get out of here, go get lunch – like at that little kabob stand outside that one village – and then…we head to the Blessphere Mines. Give Stevonnie another chance to beat something up.”

Steven pulled out his phone to check the time and sure enough, it was registering a little after twelve in the afternoon. That seemed to trigger his stomach to send a memo to his brain that, while not starving, getting lunch would a-okay.

And taking another crack at being Stevonnie is never not an awesome thing. After being pulled apart so forcefully and then working so well together, the teen couldn’t help but want to share in their victory by being fused with one of his favorite people.

“That does sound like a plan,” Sapphire said, her voice revealing nothing, but Ruby seemed to hear it anyway.

“But?”

“Hmm?”

“That’s a but here,” Ruby elaborated.

“Technically, there’s four.”

Sapphires, in general, are not known for their comedy chops. This particular sapphire has become dangerously good at sending a perfectly placed one-liner without ever batting an eye or even changing the tone of her voice. Case in point had been their earlier quip about sparks; truth be told, Ruby loves this side to the former aristocrat.

It's a side not many people see or even know about and the fact that Ruby can literally read her like a book sometimes would have sent a special kind of shock to her heart, if she had one.

“Oh ha,” the soldier retorted, smiling at the few giggles coming from Steven. “Clever. I can only guess you have some other sort of plan you want to do instead.”

“There is something here we have yet to uncover.”

“Oh, I get you,” Connie responded. “You wanna take a look around, see if we can find out more about what Homeworld was doing in here.”

“Precisely,” the blue gem stated. “This cannot stand, especially if this facility is still being used and now is the first time we’ve realized it.”

“Alright, Sapph,” Ruby replied, holding her hands up in placation. The whole thing rubbed _both_ of them the wrong way, hence why she had suggested the Blessphere Mines. Not only was the place usually littered with crystal shrimp, but there were tons of rocks and walls that tended to be good for smashing in angry rages.

“We’ll go play meddling kids and see if we can find anything on the way towards the out door.” Throwing an affection arm around Sapphire’s shoulders, the red gem joked, “Don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya” before delivering a quick kiss to her cheek, causing the blue gem to giggle.

“Never.”

“This is not behaving,” Steven pointed out, though he couldn’t help but smile. As shameless as their actions could be sometimes, the teen was absolutely in support of any romantic relationship between his friends.

The couple relented, turning to their left and making their way down the curved hallway. As the map had stated previously, there did seem to be rooms lined on the back wall, however most were dark and empty, with nothing to show that anyone or anything had been inside them. Whatever mystery they had stumbled upon was only getting deeper and cloudier the further they went.

Connie liked mysteries – she was more of a sci-fi, fantasy girl herself, but the idea of something just in reach, but always so far away intrigued her. And this was certainly intriguing. What should have been a simple corrupted gem mission had seemed to open up another remnant of the war that even _Garnet_ hadn’t foreseen.

Thinking about this rationally, Connie went through everything they knew –

This building had been built and was possibly used for research and development. What that was used for, they didn’t know. The building had seemingly been abandoned, however finding that gem on the ledge had confirmed that at least one gem had been inside well after the war had ended – at most, it had lain dormant for a hundred years, a worse, it had been sitting there for hours, days, or weeks.

Who the gem was and the why of their visit was also unknown.

Next was the anti-fusion room, which Ruby had all but confirmed had been created to prevent members of the Crystal Gems from fusing with each other. Given Homeworld’s hatred of cross-gem fusions, it would make sense to install such a room, if not for one minor hiccup. Other than Garnet and Stevonnie, Connie was under the impression that most fusions were far larger than this very building; she had seen that when meeting Alexandrite for the first time.

Steven had also stated that both Sardonyx and Opal were towering figures, certainly not ones to easily fit within the confines of the building, much less a room that was designed to tear them apart. From the way Ruby reacted, it was clear this was not the first time she had encountered something like this as Garnet.

Then there was the corrupted gem.

There was still a lot about corruption that Steven and the Gems didn’t know or understand, one being how gems got to their present location. In their experience, many corrupted gems tended to stay in the place where they had been corrupted, while others had moved on, possibly trying to remember a certain place and returning to it. But by all accounts, gems had been corrupted when exposed to the Diamonds’ call, meaning they had to be _outside_.

So how did this corrupted gem make it inside? It was clear it was too large to fit through the doorways and other than the one room it destroyed, Sapphire had to open the door in order for anyone to get through.

There were a lot of questions and not enough answers and well Sapphire may have seemed to be calm in the face of uncertainty, the teen girl was getting the feeling that the lack of answers was starting to wear thin on the future seeing gem.

Their walking through the hall didn’t seem to be netting them anything, so Ruby was quite happy in realizing they were almost to the end of the hall, which would hopefully have a door in which they could leave and then head to that little kabob place. While Garnet – and thus her components – weren’t the voracious eaters Amethyst was, they did have their selected choices of foods they were willing to eat. Ruby tended to have a disposition for spicy foods, especially those with seasoned meats, while Sapphire leaned more towards fruits and vegetables.

All three however – that is to say Ruby, Sapphire, and Garnet – had a weakness for sweets, especially ice cream.

Thoughts of lunch and maybe dessert were quickly swept away when Ruby nearly stumbled forward when Sapphire suddenly stopped in the middle of the floor. For a moment, the soldier thought her partner might be having a vision; while it was extremely rare for visions to completely freeze her in her tracks, it could still happen from time to time, especially if the vision was of a horrific and violent nature.

That went for Garnet as well.

However, Ruby didn’t notice the tell-tale signs of a catastrophic vision. Before she could ask what was wrong, Sapphire answered for her. “We’re not alone.”

A moment later, Ruby instantly heard the sound of footsteps, several of them, coming from the very area the group was headed in and within a second of that came voices. A small niggling of hope wondered if maybe Pearl and Amethyst had gotten bored and decided to join the party, but then Ruby remembered very clearly that she hadn’t mentioned where they would be going to either gem.

Another few minutes passed before the voices and footsteps got louder and then their identities were revealed as they all came around the corner. Ruby, who had already dropped into a battle position and flanked Sapphire, seemed to relax before taking a step back in confusion. “What’re you doing here?”

In a somewhat crowd line stood five rubies. While three of the rubies were unknown to the group, two of them were – at the head of the group was a ruby wearing a yellow visor over her eyes and dressed in black suspenders that held up the dark short shorts that were standard attire for any ruby. Further down the row to the right was a younger ruby, showcasing the insignia for Yellow Diamond in the middle of her chest, who was subconsciously scratching the area of her leg, just above her gem.

The group leader, hereby named Doc forever more thanks to Steven, took a few steps forward in confusion. To her knowledge, her squad were the only rubies assigned to Earth colony and she was sure she would’ve remembered an extra ruby being onboard with them.

“What’re _you_ doing here?” she questioned.

“I…” Ruby stumbled, trying to figure out a plausible excuse. “I asked you first.”

“ _We’re_ here on a very important mission for Yellow Diamond.”

“So am I!” Ruby exclaimed. She looked between her own group and the squad in front of her before throwing a thumb at the teens behind her. “I’m…taking these rebel prisoners back to Homeworld for…um…punishment.”

Doc stared at her for some time before relaxing her own stance. “Oh,” she said, grinning at her fellow ruby. “Well, alright.”

“Right!” Ruby laughed, nervously. She couldn’t believe this was actually working. They would of course have to worry about why this new ruby squad was here or maybe if they were quick, they could take the squad out – it was four against five, which were pretty good odds; maybe if they did it quickly and without any hindrances, they could form Garnet and the teens could form Stevonnie…

“So if you guys could…and we could…” the lone ruby tried to make gestures signifying that she wanted the squad to move or at the very least separate their little formation so she could get through with her ‘prisoners’.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

“Hmm?” Ruby asked, in confusion. Doc was also looking at her confusion, which was slowly morphing into recognition.

“I know you.”

“Noooo…”

“Yeah,” Doc affirmed, pointing an angry finger at her. “You’re that traitor!”

“What? No!”

“Yes, you are!” the ruby leader exclaimed. “Oh, you’d better be glad you’ve run into me, cause Ruby was fit to tied when we got back. If she was here, you’d be shattered. She’s got a beef with you, you know.”

For some reason, that just seemed to irk Ruby to no end. Granted, during her stay on Homeworld, rubies weren’t exactly friends per se, more like readily available sparring partners who usually looked for a fight. And despite living on Earth for as long as she had, that was something this particular ruby wasn’t cured of.

“Ruby’s got a beef with me,” she growled. “Ruby’s got a beef with _me_?!? Well, I’ve got a beef with _her_!” How dare she! Ruby was doing her duty – she was a bodyguard and she was guarding bodies, case closed. But try as she might, Ruby couldn’t exactly put her finger on which of her former, fellow gems might have a problem with her.

“Important follow up question!” she exclaimed, fully intended to keep this level of excitement and anger going, but the mystery of just who might have her on a hit list was too much. “Which…Ruby has a beef with me?”

“ _We all do!_ ”

The intensity of the statement made the rebel known as Ruby falter in her own anger. “Okay,” she stammered. “That…that seems fair.”

“Boss,” one of the unknown rubies asked, this one with her gem on her right shoulder, a mirror image to Army that wasn’t missed for Steven or Ruby. “What did that ruby do?” The other two unknown rubies and even Leggy all clamored to find out why their leader didn’t trust an obvious fellow ruby soldier.

“Well firstly,” Doc stated, angrily looking at Ruby, Sapphire, and Steven. “They lied to us. Then they made us play some stupid Earth game, lied to us about where Jasper was, and then we came back, they got one of their rebel friends to _pose_ as Jasper, then they sent us out into _space_ …”

“Hey now,” Ruby interrupted. “We…we were going to come back for you.”

“Really?” Doc asked, skeptically.

Sapphire answered for her, calmly stating, “No.”

Turning a heated glare onto her partner, Ruby cried, “Yes! Prob…probably. Eventually.” Chuckling nervously, she pleaded, “Don’t listen to her, she’s a rebel prisoner.”

“And then,” Doc continued, pointing an accusing finger between Ruby and Sapphire. “She _fused_ with that sapphire!”

The other rubies, even Leggy, gasped at the very audacity. Everyone knew that cross-gem fusions were taboos and were punishable by being broken or worse. It actually was a good thing that Eyeball, the only Homeworld era 1 gem in the group, _wasn’t_ there, because if she had been, she may have casually and happily mentioned that Ruby and Sapphire weren’t just two gems who liked fusing with each other, but that they were _the_ ruby and sapphire who had daringly fused in the middle of Blue Diamond’s court.

A retort died out on Ruby’s tongue before she could utter it and instead, she shrugged. “I…” she began. “Can’t deny that last one. That did happen. _Does_ happen. We do…do that.”

“Several times” Sapphire supplied, her face a mask of tranquility, but Ruby heard the mirth in her tone of voice.

Never to be outdone, Ruby added a cheeky, “ _Multiple_ times.”

The ruby squad was flabbergasted, they just couldn’t believe it. It was one thing to fuse with a gem of a different type, but enjoying it, to the point to so blatantly _brag_ about it? One of the braver rubies, the one who stood next to the ruby who had asked what it was that rebel ruby had ever done to her squad leader, couldn’t help but think of the idea of fusing with another gem, especially one as pretty as the sapphire before them.

“I’d fuse with her,” she stated, receiving not only angered looks from her teammates, but one from the ruby standing across from them, with a clear warning to watch her words the next time.

“Listen guys,” Steven said, looking at the besieged ruby squad. “This has been a great reunion and I’m glad Navy was able to get you and bring you back to Homeworld and I, on behalf of the Crystal Gems, am really sorry we didn’t come back for you when we should have, and I’d love to continue to catch up, but Steven needs food, so…”

Summoning his shield, the teen got into a battle stance. “I really don’t want to fight you guys.”

The emergence of his shield prompted Connie to remove the sword from where she had placed it back in its scabbard. Like Steven, she would much rather avoid a confrontation here, but the way out was behind the rubies and it seemed clear that they were not about to move willingly.

Upon seeing both the shield and sword of Rose Quartz, all eyes widened from across the way.

“Whoa!”

“Ruby wasn’t kidding!”

“It’s really her!”

“What’s happening now?”

“We may have let this slide,” Doc said, leaning forward. “But now you’ve gone too far. You’re harboring a wanted war criminal. Ruby wasn’t able to catch her when she could and I think Ruby just wanted to save us, but I’m about to avenge my fellow rubies and bring honor back to Homeworld and our Diamond by capturing Rose Quartz and her followers!”

That was enough to drop both Sapphire and Ruby into battle ready mode. “If you want him…” Sapphire began, her voice colder than normal.

“Then you have to go through us,” Ruby finished.

Doc stared them down. “With pleasure.” 

Standing to a much more authoritative height, she called out, “Rubies! Assemble!”

The idea was to fuse into a larger ruby – not only would it intimidate the smaller gems, Rose Quartz, and their human, but there was no way they would be a match for such an opposing figure. That…was the plan anyway. At least until the shoulder ruby – whom Steven mentally called ‘Righty’ – informed their leader that the ceiling might be too low for them to actual fuse and not hit their heads.

That of course started a discussion on how they were going to fuse or even could fuse and…

Connie, who had already been standing in position as soon as the leading ruby recognized _their_ ruby, straightened up as the four watched the squad bicker with each other. “Um…” she started, sending a quick look to Steven. “Are we gonna…?”

“Give ‘em a moment,” the hybrid countered. “They’re obviously trying to think of a battle tactic. You can’t rush these things, you know.”

“The natives are getting restless,” Sapphire deadpanned, causing Ruby to send her a look.

“Ugh!” Doc called out in frustration, turning to face her enemies. “Enough! There’s more of us than there are of them. We don’t need to fuse – we can take care of them ourselves. Rubies! Attack!”

Calling out screams of attack, the squad came barreling forward, thoughts of glory riding high in their minds. The entire squad was made up of era 2 gems, who had no previous knowledge of who Pink Diamond was, who the Crystal Gems were, and who Rose Quartz was; having the ruby code-named Eyeball by Steven in the mix had opened the eyes of the previous squad she was involved in.

Eyeball had been there, had been in the thick of things during war and had even seen the shattering of poor Pink Diamond. When they had been on the moon base, she had told them the story – how Pink Diamond was building a glorious colony on this wretched planet and how the rebel Rose Quartz had just come up and shattered her.

Doc hadn’t said anything to her face, but personally, she thought Eyeball might be a little…unhinged. But, having never been in a war herself, she figured that was the price being paid, especially after those crystal germs had tried to get the jump on her squad – everyone knew the Diamonds had finally won the war and defeated the gems, but of course there had to still be remnants.

But they hadn’t ever figured that Rose Quartz would still be alive. She looked completely different – she had taken the form of a human – but who else could heal Eyeball’s gem, have a pink shield, and wield that iconic sword? Even if the sword was being held by another human (maybe _that_ was Rose Quartz?) – in the end, it didn’t matter.

The ruby squad was going to capture the traitors, avenge the previous squad, and bring glory back to Homeworld.

“Now might be a good time to, oh I don’t know, help these ladies _cool down_ a bit,” Ruby stressed, giving her partner a look.

Sapphire gave a small tsk – more for the obvious pun than anything else – before watching the five rubies rush towards them.

On Homeworld, sapphires are mostly regulated to the elite class of gems – part of the aristocracy due to their precognitive natures – and rarely have to deal with the physical tasks of combat or war. When the rebellion began and shifted into the war that would last a thousand years, many sapphires were kept within the tall spires on Homeworld, trying their best to appease their Diamonds with words of hope against the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Rose Quartz and her Renegade Pearl.

Depending on the court they belonged to, sapphires were equipped with elemental powers, enough to act as a defense mechanism, but nothing more than that. And for most, that was enough – they would never be caught anywhere near the battlefield, so having fighting abilities were a moot point. Their roles were to be seers, to help their Diamonds in locating the best locations and planets and to help further their gem empire.

That was how Sapphire went through most of her life span. She emerged from her Kindergarten, knowing exactly what her place was in the hierarchy of the gems and what her role was within that hierarchy. The path of fate for her had been laid out and, up until the moment in the Cloud Arena when that all changed, that had been what her life would be.

But Sapphire had managed to change the course of fate and that meant the cryokinesis that had been inherit in her since the beginning was now something she could use to her benefit. But that meant needing to know how to use and enhancing that power.

As a member of Blue Diamond’s court, the blue gem was already aware that her cryokinesis could be triggered due to emotional distress, however in her time on Homeworld, that had only occurred perhaps twice; it was her meeting and subsequently falling in love with Ruby that she experienced her powers going haywire more often than not in response to their discord with each other. While this state was usually out of her control, what she was about to do to this new ruby squad was not.

Garnet had once told Steven that the key to summoning a gem weapon was about linking your mind with the energy of existing matter, challenging it through one’s gem. At the time, it made sense - in a very high-level, metaphorical sense – but only because it was difficult to truly explain. How could you truly explain the complicated process of manipulating a weapon from light and manifesting into a physical object?

Cryokinesis was as much a thought process as it was a manifestation. It was about sending out tendrils of ice and frost, about focusing that reach to expand outwards.

As the ruby squad began rushing towards the small group of Crystal Gems, the floor beneath their feet went from sturdy to slippery, as a sheet of ice suddenly appeared, taking most of them off their feet and into the air. Doc, Righty, and Handy – due to them having the ruby on the back of her hand – were all thrown into the air, while Leggy and Thighbone – named for reasons that are obvious – skidded haphazardly across the ice.

All five suddenly hit a wall, an ice wall to be exact – encased within was the ruby squad.

“Whoa,” Steven breathed, watching the display in awe. “That’s so cool!”

“Ice, ice baby,” Connie added, her eyes just as wide as her liege’s.

Turning to give Ruby a side glance, Sapphire asked, “Well?” Ruby met the look with one of her own. “I’ve set them up…”

The red soldier gave her partner a cocky grin, before sauntering towards the wall. “Time for me to knock ‘em down,” she stated, summoning a smaller gauntlet with her left hand while she approached. Studying the wall, more importantly the rubies _within_ the wall, Ruby chose a spot in the middle, before striking it with all her might.

The hit was enough to do what the red wanted – shattering the wall itself, but also poofing all five rubies held within, with all of their gems hitting the floor, along with the remnants of ice. A few of the shard fell on Ruby, however she was able to expel them with a simple flex.

“Showoff,” the seer noted, joining the soldier’s side, as Connie and Steven did the same.

“You like it.”

Looking down at the inert gems, Connie couldn’t help but comment, “Wow, talk about giving someone the cold shoulder.”

“Well, they did cast the _frost_ stone,” Steven commented.

“In their defense,” Ruby argued. “We didn’t exactly give them a good _frost_ impression.”

“Children,” Sapphire admonished, amidst giggling from all three. “We do have a matter of importance here.”

“Right.”

“Sorry.”

“Sorry, Sapphy.”

“I’m sure this merely the tip of the _ice_ berg,” the seer continued, causing a short giggle from Connie. “To turn a _freeze_.”

“Ugh,” Ruby moaned, the end of it just shy of a straight chuckle. “That was the worst one yet.”

“Seriously,” the teen girl replied. “What’re we gonna do with these guys?”

“We gotta bubble them and send them to the Temple,” Steven stated, shrugging.

“Are you kidding?” Ruby asked, looking at the boy. “One of them gets out and manages to pop the _other_ bubbles, we’ll have more problems on our hands than these five idiots.”

“If we bubble them and don’t take them back, they’ll be just as angry as when we left them in space,” Steven insisted.

“I would’ve preferred they were still _in_ space!”

“How can you say that!?”

“Very simply,” the soldier replied. “I wish they were still in space. We’re a space faring race, Steven; they would’ve fine out there.”

“Enough.”

While the ice puns brought a measure levity to the situation, having Ruby and Steven argue over this wasn’t helping. Sapphire knew the red gem wasn’t _trying_ to be harsh – not really – but Ruby hadn’t been happy at knowing the ruby Steven nicknamed ‘Navy’ had tried to kill him. And not just kill him, she had used Steven’s own personality and goodness against him.

Ruby loved Steven, even apart from Garnet, and she took her unspoken job of protecting him seriously. It was one thing when Homeworld gems were trying to hurt her, it was completely different when those gems were the same _type_.

Ruby may not admit it, but she could hold a grudge like no one’s business.

“There is no conceivable option that won’t lead to the same outcome,” the blue gem continued. “Regardless if we bubble them or not, _someone_ is going to notice that _another_ ruby squad has somehow disappeared on Earth’s surface. If their leader was correct, then Yellow Diamond sent them down here with a _purpose_ , one that we don’t know yet. The only course of action is to bubble their gems and leave them here, so that any rescue team – if dispatched – will find them.”

“And what exactly happens if someone _does_ come to rescue them?” Ruby asked.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Really? Cause that would seem like a big deal to me.”

“Our main focus should be on _why_ these rubies were sent and what Yellow Diamond sent them for,” Sapphire amended. “As you yourself said, we’ll have more problems to deal with than just five rubies.”

“So what _do_ you think they were for?” asked Connie.

“I don’t know,” Sapphire replied. “And _that_ is what worries me.”

 

* * *

 

The small, circular ship entered cross the line into the galaxy known as the Crystal System. The system had been left alone for millennia, after the horrific events of the Thousand Year War; it had been a blight on the gem empire name, but thankfully they had persevered.

Within the bridge of the ship, a small blue gem sat in a command chair that was suspended high above the darkened floor. Her blue eyes were scanning her latest mission report, unconcerned as to why she was being sent to some backwater planet, especially one that had been so instrumental in the war.

Scratching an area near her gem – a strangely shaped blue sphere resembling a teardrop that was nestled under her left eye – the gem couldn’t help but be somewhat interested, at least in the foreign species she was supposed to be retrieving. This wasn’t a job uncommon for one such as herself, however she did feel it might have been a little… _too_ basic for her tastes.

But…this was an assignment given to her by Blue Diamond, naturally, so obviously while the destination was on the backend, the mission itself was of high importance.

Hearing heavy footsteps coming from below deck, the blue gem leaned over the chair to see a much larger gem coming towards her. This gem was more than a quarter of her own size, with a muscular yellow build that literally made them look like a giant, walking wall of muscle. The gem stopped a short distance from the command chair in order to deliver a status report.

However, the larger gem said nothing.

“I take it everything is in order?” the smaller gem asked, receiving a short nod in confirmation. “Excellent. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping we can get this done in a relative short fashion.” Leaning back against her chair, she sighed dramatically. “Remember when we used to go on _exciting_ missions?” she asked. “Oh well, I guess one can’t truly be picky. After all, if this wasn’t important, neither Blue or Yellow would send us out. I just don’t know what the significance is of these names.” Shrugging, she again leaned over to look at her larger companion.

“Perhaps we can go see them in the zoo once they’re settled, eh?” she asked. “Always wanted to see that monstrosity, it’s pretty much historic, when you think about it.” Again, the smaller gem leaned back against her chair. “I love these intellectual conversations, Topaz. You always have something interesting to say.”

The blue gem laughed, ignorant of the frown on the larger gem’s face.

“Now get back down there,” the commander replied. “I want this to be as orderly as possible and as quick as possible. I don’t want to spend any more time on this backwater planet than necessary.”

The yellow gem – this Topaz – gave another quick nod before turning on her heel and heading back down to the engine room.

The two wouldn’t ‘speak’ again until their mission was complete.


End file.
